Each week, we will be highlighting the amazing and wonderful things that are happening in our classrooms and grade levels at St. Margaret of Scotland School. We are very proud of the work our teachers do with our students and are amazed by what happens at SMOS. Our goal is to share more about the hidden gem that is St. Margaret’s.

The Fifth Graders are learning about Ecosystems in their science unit through investigation of a fictional rain forest that had been destroyed due to farming practices. Since they aren’t able to bring a full rain forest ecosystem into the classroom, they observed their terrariums and used them to think about ecosystems they can’t see. Each group was able to choose how to place their soil (should it be hilly? or flat?) and how to distribute their grass seeds (all in one place? only on one side? a few seeds? or several?). The differences in each terrarium will allow students to explore what may help or harm in an ecosystem as well. Hands-on experiments, like the terrariums, are great opportunities not only to observe science in action but to also practice using their scientific vocabulary during conversations and in written observations.

The 5th Grade students even make great teachers… in a role reversal of sorts, they took turns teaching their classmates about Civil War battles.  

And capping off a busy week, these students also participated in the Dancing Classrooms competition -performed great!